Record-Breaking Single Malt Scotch Sells For $1.1 Million

At an Edinburgh auction Wednesday night, a bottle of single-malt Scotch sold for an incredible $1.1 million, breaking the record for world’s most expensive whisky.

The ultra-rare 60-year-old Macallan Valerio Adami 1926 was purchased by a private collector in Asia, CNN reports. The previous record was held by a bottle of the same release, and sold by the same auctioneer, Bonhams, in Hong Kong in May.

The Macallan is sought after for its quality and rarity. The release was bottled in 1986, after spending 60 years aging in a vat. Macallan produced just 24 bottles, and commissioned two world-famous pop artists – Valerio Adami and Peter Blake – to design the labels.

Of the 12 bottles with labels designed by Adami, there are thought to be, at most, just ten left in the world. “One is said to have been destroyed in an earthquake in Japan in 2011,” Bonhams said in its press release for the auction, “and it is believed that at least one of them has been opened and consumed.”

Bonhams whisky specialist, Martin Green, said in a statement: “The Macallan 1926 60-year-old has been described as the Holy Grail of whisky. Its exceptional rarity and quality puts it in a league of its own, and the world’s most serious whisky collectors will wait patiently for many years for a bottle to come onto the market.”